Political English: Language and the Decay of Politics

Description

From post-truth politics to “no-platforming” on university campuses, the English language has been both a potent weapon and a crucial battlefield for our divided politics. In this important and wide-ranging intervention, Thomas Docherty explores the politics of the English language, its implication in the dynamics of political power and the spaces it offers for dissent and resistance. From the authorised English of the King James Bible to the colonial project of University English Studies, this book develops a powerful history for contemporary debates about propaganda, free speech and truth-telling in our politics. Taking examples from the US, UK and beyond - from debates about the Second Amendment and free-speech on campus, to the Iraq War and the Grenfell Tower fire - this book is a powerful and polemical return to Orwell’s observation that a degraded political language is intimately connected to an equally degraded political culture. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Introduction Chapter 1: On Pluck: English and money Chapter 2: English nativism and linguistic xenophobia Chapter 3: Fundamentalist English: The stiff upper lip Chapter 4: On truth and lying in a political sense Chapter 5: Words, deeds and democracy Chapter 6: Profanity and free speech Chapter 7: Remnants of dissent: Free speech, political silence and guilt Select Bibliography Index